There are a large variety of tools that are currently known in the construction industry which are designed for specific applications. Framers and carpenters often utilize a number of measurement tools during the construction of residential, commercial and other buildings. As is well known in the trade, the construction of floors, exterior walls, interior load bearing walls, and roofs typically demand a great degree of measurement precision and accuracy during the layout of the structure frame which is typically formed by a plurality of interconnected beams, studs, rafters and/or joists, all of which are hereinafter referred to as framing members for the sake of convenience. These framing members are generally laid out in such a manner that they able to support a maximum amount of load including the weight of the structure itself as well as the weight that the structure is designed to support.
Floors, walls and roof frames are typically made torsionally stable by an exterior sheathing attached to the floors, exterior walls, roofs, etc., in a conventional manner, e.g., by nails, screws, etc. The spacing and alignment of the framing elements with respect to the sheathing and other adjacent framing members is crucial in the construction of floors, walls and roof frames having the desired structural integrity. For example, walls are typically framed such that the wall framing members are vertically aligned so as to be precisely square (form a 90 degree angle) with the floor and extend parallel with respect to one another. It is to be appreciated that such alignment of the framing members ensures the greatest amount of structural integrity for the floor, wall, roof, etc. In contrast, any misalignment of the framing members with respect to one another and/or the sheathing thereby reduces the overall structural integrity of the floor, wall, roof, etc., and thereby reduces the overall structural integrity of the resulting building or structure.
During typical construction, for example, the frame of a wall is formed on the floor of the structure by securing, i.e, nailing, the ends of the framing members to opposed bottom and top end plates. The end plates are premeasured and premarked so as to indicate the precise locations, along the top and the bottom end plates, at which the framing members will be nailed. After constructing the frame of a vertical wall for example, the fabricated frame, i.e., the top portion of the fabricated frame including the top end plate will be raised into a vertical orientation with the bottom end plate remaining on the floor and thereafter the constructed frame will be manipulated by the framers and/or the carpenters to ensure proper location of the bottom end plate on the floor as well as a vertical orientation thereof. The remaining side walls are then fabricated and secured in a conventional manner.
Once the constructed shell of the building or other structure frame is completed in a conventional manner, an exterior sheathing is then affixed to the shell of the building or other structure in a conventional manner to enclose the structure. To ensure proper alignment of the framing members with the sheathing, it is common to mark the desired nailing or other securing location(s), e.g., either a center point or both a center point and a pair of opposed markings equally spaced on either side of the center point, to the framing members along the upper and/or the bottom longitudinal edges of the sheathing. Before nailing the upper and/or the bottom longitudinal edges of the sheathing to the framing members, it is also customary to manipulate or adjust the relative position of the respective framing member with respect to the marked center point or the pair of opposed markings equally spaced on either side of the center point to compensate for any misalignment therebetween which often occurs. Once the desired manipulation or adjustment is achieved, the framer or the carpenter then secures or nails the sheathing to the framing members. This process is repeated for each piece of sheathing to be attached to the structure in order to tack the sheathings to the structure. Lastly, as is conventional in the art, a plurality of chalk lines or other vertical lines are drawn by the framer or the carpenter to indicate the additional vertical locations along which each piece of sheathing is to be attached or nailed to the associated framing members.
Currently, there are a number of tools in use today for measuring and marking the center points along the first and the second opposed longitudinal edges of the sheathing, including tape measures and framing squares, but such techniques are generally time consuming and require mathematical analysis and thus are prone to error. For example, according to the prior art, the center points are first marked along the first and the second opposed longitudinal edges of the sheathing at a spacing of 16 inches on center, 24 inches on center, etc., as dictated by the structure. Once the center points are marked along the first and the second opposed longitudinal edges of the sheathing, the least time consuming way to utilize such center point marks is the so called “eyeballing” method. According to this method, the framer or the carpenter merely estimates the location where the center of the associated framing member is “aligned” with the center point mark on the sheathing and then the framer or the carpenter secures or nails the sheathing directly to the framing member. Although this “eyeballing” method is arguably quick and easy, often times it results in some misalignment of the framing members with respect to other adjacent framing members as well as with respect to the sheathing. As noted above, any misalignment of the framing members with respect to one another and/or the sheathing, in turn, leads to a reduction in fabricated wall strength and thereby a decrease in the overall structural integrity of the structure or building.
A more precise method, also used by framers or carpenters, to properly align the framing members with the respective center point marks along the first and the second opposed longitudinal edges of the sheathing is to provide a pair of width marks or alignment lines equally spaced on either side of the center point marks. Each pair of width marks or alignment lines, on the sheathing, indicate the width of the frame member to which the sheathing is being attached and thus provide a more precise mechanism by which the framer or the carpenter may align or center the associated framing member between the pair of width marks or alignment lines (see FIGS. 11 and 12), on either side of the center point mark, before the framer or the carpenter eventually secures or nails the sheathing directly to the framing member.
Although utilization of the pair of width marks or alignment lines, on the sheathing, to indicate the width of the frame member to which the sheathing is being attached is much more accurate and reliable and thereby results in a frame which has greater strength and structural integrity, the marking of the additional pair of width marks or alignment lines is also a more tedious and time consuming procedure than the basic eyeballing method. Moreover, some times mistakes are made when determining the “half width” of the framing member, especially when there are a number of differently sized framing members currently being used for the construction of the wall(s), floor(s), roof(s), etc. That is, the framer or the carpenter must first mark the respective center point marks along the first and the second opposed longitudinal edges of the sheathing. Next, the framer or the carpenter must then determine and mark two half width marks on either side of the center point marks. For example, if the center point marks are marked 16 inches on center and the framing members are 2×6×8, then the half width of the framing member is ¾ of an inch (i.e., the planed width of the 2×6×8 framing member is 1½ inches). Accordingly, the framer or the carpenter will also according make marks at 15¼ and 16¾ inches, 31¼ and 32¾ inches, 47¼ and 48¾ inches, etc., along each of the first and the second opposed longitudinal edges of the sheathing. Finally, the framer or the carpenter may utilize a framing square to extend the length of each of the additional width marks to make them readily visible prior to installing the sheathing.